It's a Win! – Gloriavale Leavers' Support Trust

It’s a Win!

Opinion piece: Liz Gregory

The phone call everyone was waiting for came late afternoon on a Wednesday. On Thursday morning 13 July, 2023 the Employment Court judgement would be released. The six plaintiffs sprung into action to find babysitters, and take the following day off work so they could head to Christchurch to meet the lawyers. The rest of the day was a blur helping to organise flights as the team needed to assemble from Auckland, Cambridge, Wellington and Timaru by 9am the next morning!

I tossed and turned and had some very awake moments that night. The nerves and excitement were all jumbled up together.

We were still on the road when the phone rang. It was the girls’ lawyer, Brian Henry. He wanted to speak to them.

We pulled over into a quiet, shingle road, overlooking snowy mountains and drove along until we got some decent cell reception.

I grabbed my phone and took some snapshots and video footage of the girls predicting the outcome. There seemed to be some confidence for a win.

Ring ring. Janina answered the call and put it on speakerphone. The girls gathered around with great anticipation. I quickly pressed record and captured the moment. It was followed by squeals of delight and some hugging and air-punching. What a moment. The judge found the girls had been led on a path since birth, and were employees from as young as six years old when they first joined the teams.

It was recognition that these girls had been exploited.

It was what onlookers recognised years ago.

But to have a judge state it so categorically – that’s another level. That builds confidence that what you felt was wrong, was actually wrong.

The trip to ChCh was followed by a blur of excited chatter! A trip to Fresh Choice Merivale was in order (have you seen their food cabinets? Wow!). We picked up food and sparkling orange juice for the team and headed to a home kindly provided by the wonderful Ali Jones from Red PR. It was a house full of the legal team, Media and doco crew, other Gloriavale Leavers and supporters.

After a whirlwind of hellos and hugs the plaintiffs settled in while Brian read portions of the judgment to the girls. Dennis, Steve and Janina spoke and there were speeches and thank yous all round. After some media and doco interviews, we all moved off to the ChCh courthouse to meet the wider NZ media who were waiting for a response from the plaintiffs. What a crowd. We saw the familiar faces who have followed this story for many, many years.

In particular we need to give a special mention here to Newshub’s Michael Morrah (and Kate!) who broke the all important story back in 2020 where current members met him in the bush and were interviewed. They commented on long working hours and exploitation. Michael followed this up with questions to the Minister for MBIE and uncovered a report that had been written in 2017 and buried. It was a desk-top review stating that on the balance of probabilities the members were not employees. This was followed up by protest, a petition and a request for another review. That review also failed, which led to the employment court hearing. Michael drove the story in these early years and it’s still unfolding today. We are grateful for his work in this area.

Many other NZ media have done, and continue to do fine work to get to the bottom of the allegations against Gloriavale. Thanks for your care in working with leavers.

Here is the Press conference on the steps of the courthouse after the win.

Not everyone gets to say they took on the Government – and won! But these six plaintiffs did just that. It’s quite a feat when you think they came from a misogynistic, community where women were told to “be quiet.”

We headed over to Riverside to enjoy some coffee and celebrations. What. A. Day!